


Sometimes Parents Get It Right

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Boys Will Be Boys is NOT An Excuse, Gen, High School, It's Hard to be a Teacher, Slash Or Not It's Your Choice, Sticking it to The Man, The Principal's Office
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 17:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7724038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Grace's school calls Danny, he fears the worst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes Parents Get It Right

Grace's first week of high school wasn't even over yet, and she was in the principal's office. Danny didn't understand. When had his baby girl, his Monkey, turned into a hooligan? Danny didn't realize he was talking to himself until Steve turned the car around. Danny stared at Steve, the Navy SEAL looked almost as concerned as he felt.

"I'm sure Grace is fine, Danno. Whatever this is, we'll figure it out."

Danny wasn't comforted.

\--

When they arrived, several adults were arguing quietly in a conference room. Two teenage boys and five teenage girls in bathing suits ‒ one-piece, matching ‒ and sweatpants were standing in the secretary's office. After several minutes, Stan and Rachel stepped primly into the office. An older woman walked in behind them, and the secretary ushered everyone into the conference room.

"We are here to discuss a very serious issue," the Principal addressed them. Turning to the secretary, he asked, "Please fetch Miss Williams and Mister Rogers." Steve tensed, feeling Danny stiffen beside him. "Now, normally this kind of issue would be cut and dried, but our swimmers here are insisting that it is not." Just then Grace entered in the shadow of a tall, blonde boy ‒ a real quarterback type. The Principal motioned for them to stand at the head of the room. When the boy turned to face them, he sported a growing black eye and a crust of blood around one nostril. "Now, Miss Williams, as you can see; your parents are here. Would you _now_ kindly tell us what happened."

Grace didn't say a word, glaring hatefully at the Principal. The boy shuffled awkwardly in place, looking at Grace with concern.

Rachel spoke up suddenly. "I'm afraid I don't understand; why are we here?"

"Your daughter punched another student. However, her friends claim there were extenuating circumstances. Either way, all forms of fighting are prohibited on school grounds. I thought it would be best to get all of the facts together, before deciding on her punishment." The Principal looked very pleased with himself, as thought he believed he were a tactful and ingenious mediator.

"Grace," Danny began firmly, "Answer the questions."

"Thank you." The Principal turned to Grace. "Now, Miss Williams, as there is no doubt that you struck Mister Rogers, please tell us _why_."

"He kept snapping my bra." Grace sounded downright surly.

"Did you tell your teacher?" This man sounded like he thought Grace was six years old.

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"To ignore it." Steve felt his eyebrows hit his hair. _Ignore it_?

"And instead you _hit_ Mister Rogers?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out." Danny waved his hands in that very North-Jersey-Italian way to stop the proceedings. "I have a question, several actually. First: Why are we here? Don't answer that. Second: _Who exactly_ tells a girl to just ignore a boy twice her size manipulating her undergarments?" Danny emphasized 'who exactly' like he means 'what soon to be dead ignoramus'.

"If I may?" one of the teachers broke in. "Detective Williams, I am Emil Strong, Grace's gym teacher. In my defense, I am also the girl's swim coach." Well, this guy seemed to have a brain… So, what was with the stupid? "After I instructed Grace to ignore Peter, I ordered _him_ to leave her alone. I expected the combination to result in the… uneventful resolution of the issue as it does amongst my swimmers. However, I have since been reliably informed that bra bands are not bathing suit straps." Here, he looked a little shamefaced. "I don't want you think I condone Peter's actions, but when Grace decked him, I was left with a difficult situation. _That_ is why we're all here." He spread his hands, indicating the situation at large.

"Asa snaps the girls straps all the time," Peter Rogers grumbled, surprising everyone and no one. There was a commotion from the bathing suit wearers, consisting mostly of things like 'It's not the same!' and 'he's allowed'.

Emil Strong threw up his hands. "Don't make me blow the whistle." The swimmers silenced immediately, visibly unhappy. "And that's why part of the swim team is here. Shandra?" he gestured for one of the girls to enlighten them.

 _All_ of the girls spoke, in a sort of round-robin.

"It's not the same."

"First of all, we've known Asa _forever_."

"We ask him to fix our straps."

"And sometimes he snaps them when he's done."

"And sometimes he just snaps them."

"But he's been doing it since we were five."

"And we do it to each other."

"It's _normal_."

"We _know_ Asa's _just_ snapping our straps."

"And bathing suits don't come undone." Here one of the girls turned, and a boy ‒ Asa ‒ grabbed the Y stitch where all of the shoulder and rib straps came together, pulling and letting go. Her body rocked slightly, and the stretchy material made a sharp slapping noise as it hit her skin. "Well, not these kind anyway."

"And _these_ are the kind you snap."

Steve's head was spinning slightly, but they seemed to be done.

Emil Strong motioned to the other boy. "Noah, do you snap the girls bathing suit straps?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know them well enough." That seemed like a simple question with a simple answer. Peter Rogers was starting to go red in the face, glaring at the swimmers and their coach.

"Would you ‒ and Asa you can answer this, too ‒ ever snap a bra band?"

Asa shook his head, wrinkling his nose. The expression read less 'eew' and more 'I like my fingers'. Noah shrugged. "Maybe my sister's," he answered honestly.

"Hang on," Steve said slowly, something clicking in the back of his head. He pointed at a tall black girl. "You said suit straps don't come undone?" She nodded. "Grace?"

"Yes, Uncle Steve?" Grace's posture loosened.

"What pushed you over the edge into punching this _boy_?" Steve waved at Peter Rogers, not wanting to dignify him with a name.

"He kept plucking at my bra. And then he undid it. And then, I just hit him." _Once, as hard as I could, just like you and Danno taught me,_ Steve finished in his head. " _Then_ he stopped," Grace concluded

There was a stunned silence before Peter Rogers' mother squawked, "You did _what_!" and leapt to her feet. At first Steve thought she was going for Grace, but her son shrunk in on himself, and Steve realized she was not a happy mother in that moment. "You're lucky she only hit you in the face!" She marched to the front of the room, grabbing her son by the ear. "Just wait until your father gets home—"

"Ow, Ma—"

"By then I ought to be just about done with you—"

"It wen not da kine—"

Peter Rogers' mother paused in her ranting to speak over her son's head to Grace. "I'm very sorry, dearie. We'll take care of him." She yanked on her son's ear, again.

"Ow, ow ow—"

"Shut up and get in the car before someone decides to start pressing charges." She pushed him out of the room, ostensibly towards the aforementioned car.

"Wait! Mrs. Roger!" The Principal rounded the conference table, trying to catch the woman before she left the office. "There's still the matter of Miss Williams punishment…" He was out the door and out of sight, but Steve winced anyway, grabbing Danny's wrist in a likely vain attempt to keep him in his chair.

"Punishment!" Mrs. Rogers squalled. "PUNISHMENT!" she shrieked. "I have half a mind to take you over my knee right here! Punishment! You're even worse than my son! If you so much as think about punishing that young lady, I'll call the press—"

Steve looked away from the doorway where he couldn't see Mrs. Rogers shaking her finger in the Principal's face, to check on Danny. Danno's eyes were wide, blinking owlishly. "Take you over my knee? What is this: Gone With The Wind?" he mumbled to himself.

"You know," Steve started, stealing Danny's attention. "I thought we were in for a monster Danny-rant, but…" he trails off, seeing that he's losing his partner.

"Lady's got if covered," Danny finished for him, slowly turning back to the door. Steve nodded to Grace, at the front of the room, trying to reassure her, before also staring dumbly at the door.

As the Principal stepped back inside, trying to look composed after being dressed down like a child, someone stood up behind them.

"Speaking of pressing charges…" It was Rachel. "I believe there is still the matter of this school's policies regarding sexual harassment."

The Principal blanched paler than skim-milk. "A l-l-" he cleared his throat, "lawsuit?" After a seconds panic, he seemed to steel himself. "Now, Mrs. Williams—"

"Edwards."

"Uh, yes, Mrs. Edwards. There was a significant misunderstanding there, but the fact remains that physical violence is always an unacceptable—"

Danny jumped out of his chair. Everyone started speaking at once. "That lumberjack started undressing my daughter against her will—"

"This is outrageous—" Rachel.

"—was she supposed to do?" Stan.

"We're not allowed to defend ourselves!" A swimmer girl.

"—are other courses of action." The Principal forced himself to be heard over the din of parents, teachers, and students. "Students are not to meet out justice. Staff and faculty should be made aware _immediately_ , so that an uncomfortable situation may be resolved. Mister Strong—"

"Now, wait just one red hot minute!" Emil Strong sheared him off. "Guys," he addressed the swimmers in a normal tone, "Ask Miss Wright to start practice for me. And take Grace with you." He waited for all the students to leave the room, shutting the door behind them.

He turned on the Principal. "Don't you dare throw me under the bus. I learned my lesson: Undies don't get boring. Should have been obvious, but it wasn't. I am not in a position to decide whether or not, or whom to punish once the situation has escalated to the point it did today. I did what administration ‒ _you_ ‒ allows me to do. I told him to stop, I separated them, and I started writing him up. It's a _gym_ class, there's only so much I can control.

"Peter is twice Grace's size. She was absolutely right to hit him. If this weren't a school, _he_ would have been arrested for sexual harassment. Personally, I think there should be a cop down here to talk to him tomorrow."

"To all the boys," Rachel chimed in, "In small groups, so they don't feel able to goof off."

"Yes," Stan agreed, "I believe that is a suitable compromise in lieu of a civil suit. What do you think, Danny?"

Steve was a little surprised to see his partner included in the parental strong-arming of an educational institution. "I suppose it wouldn't help for me to be that cop?" The principal's face went splotchy. "I'll agree to that on the grounds that all punitive actions against Grace are reversed."

Steve stood up, becoming part of the wall-of-displeasure. "I can arrange a suitable speaker." His imposing stature, and the subtle reminder that he was not only dealing with rich people, and law enforcement, but also a Navy SEAL seemed to close the deal for the school administrator.

"Well, yes. All right. Now that that's settled." The Principal opened the door, making a beeline for his personal office.

"My daughter is never to be alone with that man." Danny looked odd. He shook his head, and the moment was gone. "Rachel, why don't I just take Grace home with me, now?"

"All right, Danny." Steve was shocked. So too, it seemed was Danny, but then they saw a look pass between Rachel and Stan that clearly said 'sneaky plans' and 'paybacks'. "We'll see you at the usual time on Sunday night?"

"Right. Of course. Sunday night." Taking Danny's response as their cue to leave, Stan and Rachel stepped around the partners and left, heads bent together. "Well that was… something. We should find Grace and get going." Steve nodded and they moved to vacate the conference room.

Emil Strong stopped Danny at the door. "I can't congratulate Grace, so I'll shake hands with you. Your daughter has a mean right cross. And I wish I could have told her to hit him the next time, but I'd lose my job." He was grinning, and Danny was grinning and they were shaking hands almost maniacally.

"But you can tell me." Danny said, sounding nearly evil.

"I can tell you," Emil Strong agreed, matching the tone, "And you can tell her."

**Author's Note:**

> I work for a public school district, and it frustrates me to no end how things work. Parents control everything, and not usually in a good way. I wanted to change that. I saw this [article](http://thesocialcrat.com/she-did-this-after-the-boy-at-school-snapped-her-bra-what-followed-is-gold/) and while the overall outcome is correct, I had some major thoughts on the subject. Mainly that snapping someone's bra band is in no way like grabbing their crotch.


End file.
